A member of Parliament violated the Canada Elections Act when he tried to hide a $21,000 personal payment to an Ottawa consulting firm during the 2008 election, the Crown alleged Monday as Dean Del Mastro’s trial kicked off.

A Crown lawyer at the trial told court the case might be considered unusual. Tom Lemon says a large documentary record and several witnesses will be involved in the Del Mastro trial, which got underway in Peterborough, Ont.

Del Mastro has pleaded not guilty to charges of overspending during the 2008 federal election campaign and failing to report a personal contribution to his own campaign.

He is accused of paying Ottawa-based Holinshed Research $21,000 for consulting work — an amount that would have put him over the maximum $2,100 candidates can contribute to their own campaigns.

Elections Canada also alleges Del Mastro tried to cover up his overspending by knowingly submitting a falsified document. He denies any wrongdoing.

Lemon told the court that the first witness he intends to call — Holinshed co-owner Frank Hall — will testify that “the $21,0000 he received from Mr. Del Mastro was payment for voter ID and [get-out-the-vote] calling that was conducted by Holinshed during the campaign.”

Lemon said he expects Hall will testify that the invoices “facilitated the concealment and misreporting of the expenses n the election campaign return” that the campaign later filed with Election Canada.

Hall will be on the stand for a lengthy period, Lemon told the court.

As the prime minister’s parliamentary secretary during the robocalls affair, it was Del Mastro’s job to fend off allegations against the Conservatives of voter fraud in the 2011 campaign.

But Stephen Harper’s former parliamentary secretary is now sitting as an independent in the House of Commons pending the outcome of the case.

He has been in political limbo since his tearful resignation from the Conservative caucus after being charged in September 2013.

Richard McCarthy, Del Mastro’s official agent for the 2008 campaign, is being tried at the same time on three charges, including “incurring election expenses in an amount more than the election expenses limit.”

It’s alleged he paid Holinshed using a personal cheque from an account he shares with his wife, but failed to include the amount in his campaign financial report.

That report listed Holinshed as having been paid $1,575.

Investigators have also claimed that a false document was filed by the Del Mastro campaign, indicating that $10,000 of the $21,000 paid from the Del Mastro chequing account had been refunded by Holinshed.

“The Crown’s theory is that the transactions described above amounted to Mr. Del Mastro and Mr. McCarthy incurring a $21,000 election expense from Holinshed,” said Lemon.

“Mr. Del Mastro paying the expense with his own funds, according to the Crown’s theory, facilitated the concealment and misreporting of the expenses.”

Del Mastro has suggested publicly that Elections Canada has unfairly targeted him, charging that sealed court documents were leaked to the media by the agency.

And he said he rejected an offer from Elections Canada of a reduced penalty in exchange for a guilty plea.

If found guilty, Del Mastro and McCarthy could each face fines of $1,000 and one year behind bars.

But even though a conviction under the Elections Act would not prevent Del Mastro from running for office again — he has said he intends to run in the next federal election — it would reinforce opposition claims that the Harper Conservatives don’t respect Canada’s election laws.

The Liberals and New Democrats hammered the Tories after the party was found guilty of violating election spending laws in the 2006 “in and out” scheme and agreed to repay more than $230,000.

Harper has also publicly defended Del Mastro for his honourable service to his constituents.

That, say the New Democrats, is a clear indication of how the Tories would rather go after their opponents than play by the rules.

“Time and time again Conservatives have broken rules, and when they get caught, they attack the referee — something we saw this spring when they went after Elections Canada,” said NDP caucus spokeswoman Greta Levy.

“Mr. Del Mastro is someone that the prime minister chose as his parliamentary secretary, someone he continued to defend even after he was accused.”

The Peterborough Conservative riding association has reportedly put the party’s nomination process on hold pending the outcome of the Del Mastro case.